Monthly Archives: October 2016

Echo of the Ages

Book 1 – The Crown of Fire

Part 3 – Scion of the Wyrm

Chapter 8 – The Veiled

The building to which they made their way was secluded far from the rest within the Old City, off to the north east, where the walls climbed up through the hilly ground. Trees grew in thick profusion around it and if not for the path that led towards it, it would have been almost impossible to know of its existence.

A much larger group accompanied them on the return journey than had left two days earlier. While some of those freed had gone their own ways, seeking out family who had been captured and taken to other camps and villages that Keturhi had controlled, most followed Artor, wanting to see Keturhi pay for what she had done to them.

The band of mercenaries forded forward through the waters of the marsh, following in the wake of the burning footsteps that walked across the surface of it. All around them the mists rolled away, forced back by the dark magics of Renkheqen.

The Loyal fell in around Nhaqosa’s band and escorted them back towards the camp and on into the village. They carried themselves with a wary cautiousness, their weapons never straying far from covering the band. Inside, Nhaqosa could see that whoever had once lived in the village had gone and the place contained only Keturhi’s warriors now. There were no women or children, only males of a fighting age. Some of the men had taken to wearing face paint akin to that which decorated the Painted Ones, grotesque images done in ochres. The Painted Ones, for the most, were camped in the village, and close by to the long hall that dominated it. Some of them stood guard at the entrance to it, their eyes cold and inhuman as they stared at the approaching group.

The interior of the tower was one large room room at ground level. Waters covered the floor, lapping up against the walls and the large, central pillar. A set of stairs wound up around the pillar, headed to floors above. The tattered rags of old tapestries clung to the walls, frayed to wisps, the colours in them long since faded away. If there had been anything else in the chamber, it had long since gone, rotten away by the waters.

Echo of the Ages

Book 1 – The Crown of Fire

Part 3 – Scion of the Wyrm

Chapter 6 – A Ghost from the Past

Kathri made her way back through the library and exited, back out into the semi-wilds of the Old City. There had been the temptation to explore the library and even read through some of the works stored there, but she had no idea where to start. Nor, she suspected, would the Mages be welcoming of her using the opportunity to research up on old ruins and tombs that might still hold valuable treasures for her to recover. As for asking for assistance in locating appropriate books would raise too many question. There was forwardness and then there was foolishness, and that fitted into the latter category.

When they had finished their lunch, after the snake had departed, and after the day had cooled down marginally, they set off again, along the route that Brelor led them. The journey that they had set out upon was not a short one and that night they camped out in the forest, before continuing on the following day.

Fetid, marshy water filled the streets that Peregrine and Blade splashed there way through. Swirls of reeds and algae curled across the surface of the murky water. When the marsh had overtaken the city, many of the buildings had subsided into the ground. They had not done so evenly and so the whole of it had an uneven appearance, with buildings rising up out of the water at odd angles. Statues stood here and there through the city, overgrown with vines and weeds that crawled up over them. Through the misty air that curled through the streets, shadows loomed up around them, growing sharper into relief as they neared them, of buildings that became more distinct in form.